Stevens Transport Aviary . . cont'

85 percent of the time the reefer was on. Id guess i did a drop and hook maybe 2 percent. Theres more night driving with reefer then with a dry van. Theres also more sitting and waiting with a reefer. West coast is the place produce comes from so expect to see it. Cant help with the parking questions.your hours will flip from nights to days depending on load but most of my deliveries were oh around dawn or earlier. Pickup times depend on meat plant and produce pickers really. I dont work at stevens anymore but still run reefer and still park at the same shippers next to them.

 

Well I may not have as much seat time as alot of others but here's what I have found. In my time I have been running with the reefer probably closer to 95% of the time. Honestly, the only loads I have run that weren't cooled have been from Campbell's out of Paris, TX and one soda load from somewhere else. I know some have sad they were solar powered almost always but I am not seeing how they pulled that off. I run at night/overnight around 60-70% of the time and honestly I prefer it much more. There is significantly less traffic on the roads and much easier to park at 9am then 9pm. STLVANCE was right about the deliveries since we deliver a majority to cold storage warehouses who the distribute the product a majority of my delivers are 2300-0200. If not then around 0600...I rarely deliver during the day because that is when I am usually picking up product from somewhere or waiting on. Live load & unload...again a majority of the time just because of the nature of the work. Meat plant is nearly always drop and hook as well as the occasional produce from a warehouse in California...but more often then not your waiting. Running the West Coast....yep freight lanes in simple terms are meat from the central regions out to the 4 corners of the US and produce coming back from the West coast in the central regions...again that's generic but give an idea. Can't help much with parking in Florida other then to say that it can be done and Stevens will have a list already of approved places....just don't be surprised if it's farther from your house then you expect. My first trainer was from Florida and he chose to park in Dallas and catch a cheap flight home instead...would run him about $99...

 

Thanks for the responses. Making final decisions on who I go with.

Just found a Peterbilt dealership in my hometown. Guess I would park the truck there.

 

that peterbilt dealer may or may not allow parking... not all do.

percentage of dry loads, less than 5%....

Drop an empty at the meat plant, wait for your loaded trailer... standard operating procedure.

Most loads are live unload at grocery warehouses, and most appointments are O dark 30... between the hours of 10pm to 6am...

I was on of those solar powered drivers, easy to do once you understand the game... I usually started my day at 4 or 5 am, and was parked by 4 pm....

 

The Peterbilt dealer here is small, but it is fenced. Had only a handful of tractors on the lot. I feel stupid asking this, but what is a solar powered driver? And thanks for the info.

 

A driver who primarily runs during daylight hours

 

Guess that made me a lunar driver.

 

Greyghost If you live in Ft myers, parking is at Palm peterbuilt on MLK or right around the corner on ortiz is a thermoking. Palm is free to park, thermoking charges $25 a day. Stevens pays the $25 if your company.

 

I drive about like Tlea. I just find it easier to drive the night into dawn rather than drive the day into sundown.
Ive noticed as team, the majority of our loading and unloading takes place during the day. Usually i catch the on duty time for loading and unloading, and it suits us better.

 

Is there a canada bonus or anything like that? What's the incentive? Seems more trouble than anything.